Amnesty and a wink: Another bad idea whose time has come

By Ron Hart

Published: Sunday, February 10, 2013 at 05:10 PM.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Washington has decided it is time to put pandering to illegal immigrants into legislative form. It wants to provide a “pathway to citizenship” (other than the historic one, the break in the border fence between Tijuana and California) for the 12 million illegal immigrants already here.

The Republicans, whipped and bullied since the election, want to be seen as kinder to Latinos. Democrats would like to open voter and food stamp registration booths for illegals on the borders.

Marco Rubio is right: This is a fight for the future of the Republican Party. And like most fights, the left define the issues and then declare itself the winner.

Democrats portray themselves as the natural allies of Latinos, usually in November of even-numbered years. Their propaganda machine convinces entrepreneurial, hard-working, family oriented, pro-life Catholics who value the American dream to vote for them because they paint Republicans as villains: "Yes, the GOP will protect children born here to illegal alien parents, but Republicans believe that the parents should then be shot while their children are forced to watch."

It is fair to say that hard-line Republicans like former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) miss many libertarian issues like immigration and legalized pot. Tancredo famously bet a filmmaker that if his state legalized marijuana possession last year, he would smoke a joint. You don’t want to know what he has to do if gay marriage passes.

Big-labor unions will not let the disingenuous Democrats do anything substantive for illegal Hispanics, because if the free market priced their labor they would go from $50 an hour to $15. The immigration reform plan put forward by the White House has already been deemed believable by the Manti Te’o Fact Finding Commission.

The "bipartisan" proposal purports to grant citizenship and speed up the line for illegals — if they fill out paperwork, pay back taxes and register with the government. If we know anything about those who cross our borders illegally to take advantage of our free stuff, they take seriously the obedience to our rules on filling out proper paperwork so they can pay taxes.

CHATTANOOGA, TENN. — Washington has decided it is time to put pandering to illegal immigrants into legislative form. It wants to provide a “pathway to citizenship” (other than the historic one, the break in the border fence between Tijuana and California) for the 12 million illegal immigrants already here.

The Republicans, whipped and bullied since the election, want to be seen as kinder to Latinos. Democrats would like to open voter and food stamp registration booths for illegals on the borders.

Marco Rubio is right: This is a fight for the future of the Republican Party. And like most fights, the left define the issues and then declare itself the winner.

Democrats portray themselves as the natural allies of Latinos, usually in November of even-numbered years. Their propaganda machine convinces entrepreneurial, hard-working, family oriented, pro-life Catholics who value the American dream to vote for them because they paint Republicans as villains: "Yes, the GOP will protect children born here to illegal alien parents, but Republicans believe that the parents should then be shot while their children are forced to watch."

It is fair to say that hard-line Republicans like former U.S. Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) miss many libertarian issues like immigration and legalized pot. Tancredo famously bet a filmmaker that if his state legalized marijuana possession last year, he would smoke a joint. You don’t want to know what he has to do if gay marriage passes.

Big-labor unions will not let the disingenuous Democrats do anything substantive for illegal Hispanics, because if the free market priced their labor they would go from $50 an hour to $15. The immigration reform plan put forward by the White House has already been deemed believable by the Manti Te’o Fact Finding Commission.

The "bipartisan" proposal purports to grant citizenship and speed up the line for illegals — if they fill out paperwork, pay back taxes and register with the government. If we know anything about those who cross our borders illegally to take advantage of our free stuff, they take seriously the obedience to our rules on filling out proper paperwork so they can pay taxes.

Moocher illegals come here for the free health-care, food stamps, schools, and goodies politicians give them in exchange for their votes. It cannot be for jobs anymore; the only things the U.S. “manufactures” are federal budget crises. Obama’s economy has been the best deterrent to illegal immigration in 80 years.

The only way to put in a permanent revenue fix to make sure illegals pay their “fair share” is to abolish income taxes and implement a 17 percent "Fair Tax."

There are economic opportunities to immigration. The CBO estimates that legalizing illegals would boost revenues by $48 billion over 10 years and decrease the cost of public services provided them by $23 billion.

This immigration reform game is a well-worn path. When Reagan signed the Simpson-Mazzoli Act in 1986 with the promise of border enforcement, the result was amnesty and a flood of illegals. And, surprise, surprise, border enforcement never happened.

Build that fence. Give non-voting, "probationary citizen" with no rights to entitlements status to those already here. There is a reason the Great Wall of China and other fences were built: they work. Almost no terrorists have come through Israel's West Bank fence. In 2006, when Janet Napolitano canceled the high-tech border fence that Congress had approved, only 52 miles of the 2,000-mile fence were built. Five years and $1.1 billion later, we still have no fence. What we have now barely slows border crossers at all. They aren't even winded when they get here.

Alabama, Georgia and Arizona tried to pass laws against illegal immigration in their states. They wanted to question people who seemed suspicious. If they could answer a math question correctly, differentiate a leaf blower at Home Depot or could not name a Kardashian then they probably weren't Americans.

Eric Holder immediately sued, admitting he had not even read their immigration bills. Funny, not reading a bill didn't keep Democrats from passing ObamaCare! Eric Holder has lawyers on speed dial, ready to sue all Southern states or anyone who could harm the Obama administration, like S&P for downgrading the U.S. government debt. He has turned the attorney general’s office into a branch of the Cochran Firm. Soon, if you call it, you will have to “press 2 for English.”

Rpn Hart is a syndicated op-ed humorist, award winning author and TV/radio commentator. You can reach him at Ron@RonaldHart.com, Twitter @RonaldHart or visit RonaldHart.com.